The Blood of the Twilight Hero
by InfinityOrNone
Summary: After being saved from a mob at age 4 by Warlic the Blue Mage, Naruto sets out, becoming his apprentice. But as horrors are brought to the young shinobi, and with his budding romance with the daughter of the greatest of all Doom Knights, life gets hard.


**Greetings followers and minions! Your powerful, handsome, wise, and above all godly lord ION has arrived! Now I know that I should be updating my other works, but I've promised not to update **_Ninja of the Seas_** till I've updated **_Fury of the Storm_** and the evil bane of creative genius known as writers block has taken a huge steaming crap on my plans. So, I hired a professional squad of plot bunnies to help. Unfortunately, this came out. So, have fun!**

**Oh and I'm also now offering my services as a Beta. It's not because I want to really help people, just that I want to read something inteligent from this site. See my requirements to find out if I'm the right beta for you.**

**P.S, This is a Naruto Dragon Fable/Adventure Quest Xover, the first of it's kind.**

**Disclaimer: What? Back you lawyers, I've got a signed statement saying I do not own Naruto! Or Dragon Fable/Adventure Quest. Or even my own immoral… I mean **_**immortal**_** soul.**

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October 10th. To most people in Konohagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Leaves; this was a day of mourning and celebration at the defeat of the Kyuubi, the Nine Tailed Fox. But the key word was _most_. The exception to this rule was 4-year-old Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, although he didn't know of the Namikaze part yet. You see, the reason he was the only one who was not partaking in the revelry was because he was a Jinchuuriki, a Demon Container. This was his curse, placed upon him by Namikaze Minato, his father and the Yondaime. Of course, most people saw him as the fox, not himself. Thus, we find our hero cowering in the fetal position at the moment while several people were beating him with old pipes and crowbars. But this would not last forever.

Earlier that day: Hokage's Office

"Warlic my old friend, what brings you here?" asked Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage.

"Well Saru, my not-so-young friend, I'm here because of a rather… disturbing problem. The elementals are stirring again," said Warlic, the blue mage and the single most powerful man in all of existence, ever, end of story, it's over, period.

"Elementals, eh? Which ones?" asked Hiruzen.

"The Evil Element. They claim that your village is mistreating one of their captive number," said Warlic, his face clouded at this fact.

"When did they say this happened?" asked Hiruzen, perplexed.

"They claim that he was taken prisoner by your village 4 years ago," said Warlic.

"Impossible! After the demon attack, my shinobi would immediately report any and all strange creatures to me," said the Sandaime.

"Demon attack?" asked Warlic, suspicious now.

"Yes. In fact, it happened 4 years ago today. We were attacked by…" started the Sarutobi.

"The Kyuubi no Yoko, the leader of the Evil Elementals?" asked Warlic, somehow having the same feeling he got whenever his roommate Cycero locked the door to anything. And usually whenever Cycero locked a door, it meant either he was transforming something into a fish, or making something go boom. A BIG boom.

"Oh crap. I am way too old for this," said the Hokage, getting the same feeling he got whenever the arrival of his strongest and most perverted student coincided with Free Bathing Day for Kunoichi at the Konoha Bath House and Free Sample Day at the Exploding Tag Emporium.

Five minutes later

By the time they tracked Naruto down, the alleyway he and his attackers were in was covered in blood. Naruto's arms were bent at strange and unnatural angles, his legs were under a dumpster that was toppled on them, and his face looked like he had been stung by 10000 angry wasps. And to top it off, a silver-haired Chunin was hovering over him, kunai in hand, shouting "Die demon!" while a crowd of civilian onlookers cheered him on.

"Stop!" shouted the Hokage, aghast at seeing a mob of his own people, some of which were very well respected by him, shouting for the death of his adopted grandson.

"The demon has clouded the Hokage's mind! Kill it now!" shouted Yuri Hakura, one of the civilian council members. And with that, said Chunin, who is obviously Mizuki, slit young Naruto's throat… before said Chunin exploded in a flash of blue light.

"Wha!?" exclaimed one of the civilians in the crowd.

"You tried to kill an innocent soul. This, I cannot stand for," said Warlic, eyes glowing with power. By the time the Blue Mage was done, it looked like someone had shoved several cows in the world's largest blender and set it to liquefy, without putting on the top. Of course, by the time the Hokage got to the 5-year-old Uzumaki, the wound to his jugular had closed and he was alive. Pale, but alive.

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When the young demon/elemental container woke up, he was entreated to a yelling match between the two most powerful men in the village at the time.

"No! His father wanted him to remain inside the village!" shouted the old man Hokage.

"To be beaten? The actions of this village are going to get them all killed! Are you willing to risk a war with the 2nd most powerful of the Elemental clans on the wishes of a naive fool?" countered the Blue Mage.

"Well what do you expect to happen if he leaves the village and gets caught by Iwa Nin? "Oh, don't mind the child that looks oddly like Namikaze Minato. After all, the world is filled with children that look just like the Yondaime and happen to be the exact same age as his supposedly deceased son," said Hiruzen.

"Well then I'll protect him and teach him!" shouted Warlic.

"You mean like how you taught your last apprentice? Didn't he kill himself? Or the one before him, the dragon girl, who killed _you!_" shouted Sarutobi.

"She regretted her decision and brought me back! And besides, didn't my last apprentice end up creating ninjutsu?" responded Warlic. And thus, with every ounce of intelligence brought to bare, Naruto walked into the room.

"Old man? Y-you knew who my dad was? You t-told me you didn't! You liar! You knew all along!" shouted Naruto, tears streaming down his face at the thought that the one man he had trusted in the village had been lying to him sense he had first been able to grasp the concept of a family. He then said "What else have you lied to me about? Like whom my mom was? Or why the village hates me? And why I can't go out on my Birthday?"

"Naruto, I-" started the aged shinobi, who was then cut off by Warlic.

"Look Saru, you dug this hole on your own. Now if I were you, I'd fill him in and give him the offer I told you about. Give him some time off from this place and its hatred."

"I-I-I… oh, Naruto, I'm so sorry for keeping secrets from you. I was going to tell you all of this when I thought you were ready, after all. It was for your protection," the Hokage said.

"Then tell me! I only want to know!" shouted Naruto, tears of betrayal and sadness and a bit of fear pouring from those twin cerulean orbs known as his eyes.

"Naruto, what I am about to say must never leave this room, understand? Your father was Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime, and your mother was Uzumaki Kushina, formerly of Uzu no Kuni. I couldn't tell you about them because if it were ever known who you were, their enemies might try to kill you, Naruto," said the 60+-year-old Kage.

"And why am I hated, Lord Hokage?" asked Naruto, causing Hiruzen to wince at the formal address.

"It's because… of what happened to you on the day of your birth. As you know, the Kyuubi attacked on that day. Because it was to strong to be killed, your father, at the cost of his own life, sealed the beast into you. He wanted you to be seen as a hero, but the village never did," the monkey-man said.

"And my mother? What happened to her?" asked Naruto, his voice still frayed.

"She was killed on your first birthday by a mob. She died, trying to protect her son," the Sandaime said, crying now himself.

"M-maybe t-their right. Every o-one that cares f-for me d-dies," whispered Naruto.

"No. The fools of this village have grown up in death, and thus find death their only tool. Young Naruto, you must learn that nothing in this world is final. I have visited death's realm before._ We all float there._ I myself may not have the power necessary at the moment to perform a resurrection, but with help I could. In fact I am trying to get Hiruzen here to let me take you as my next apprentice," the wise Blue Mage said.

"Warlic! That is the worst possible kind of manipulation I've ever heard of! Promising an orphan to bring back his parents is the lowest thing I can think of!" shouted an enraged Sarutobi.

"I-I want to go with him, Old Man Hokage. He said he trained the guy who created ninjutsu. I can have my parents back or not. But I need the strength so that the villagers won't be able to hurt me or anyone who helps me anymore. After all, how can I become Hokage if I can't protect anyone?" asked/said Naruto, his tears drying.

"N-Naruto… Warlic, while I disapprove of this, I'll allow it… On the condition that he comes back in time for his classes Genin Exam in 9 years. After all, he can't claim anything his parents left him if he doesn't become a shinobi," said the white haired Nin.

"Good. Now Naruto, we'll leave in two days. But I must warn you, what I teach can either help you become a Hero the likes of which haven't been seen sense the man who defeated King Slugwrath, or turn you into an uncontrolled force of nature. If that happens, I will stop you, understand?" asked Warlic, his lavender eyes shining with power but betraying the seriousness of the question.

"Of course, Warlic-sensei. I'll train every day, I promise," said Naruto, his eyes burning.

"Good. I'll see you in a few days, Hiruzen," said the enigmatic mage as he left the room.

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**And that's the prologue. I was rather disappointed in this chapter, but worry not: the next ones will be FAR better. In fact, the only reason this one sucked in my opinion is because this idea came out of desperation to work, not my normal caffeine-induced inspiration. But don't worry, peoples! Oh, by the way, the pairings in this fic are NarutoXGravelyn, from AQWorlds. Oh, and before I end this, I would like to thank Whoever he Hell writes ****Naruto, Sorcerer for Hire**** for cementing the idea in my head. I'd look up who he is, but I'm a lazy bastard. Ja Ne!**

_**For Ever or Never, I.O.N.**_


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